False Gods
by Rene Miashi
Summary: Rules can only be bent and broken so many times before someone takes notice. For Tankyu no Unmei, the only things that matter are the rules that she was given when she came into existence. Ria Yamamoto doesn't see her rules in the same light. For Ria, those rules only apply to her zanpakuto. Unfortunately, those who gaze down from the heavens don't see things the same way.


**Spoiler Alert:**

This story is based 20 years after the Thousand-Year Blood War Arc. If you haven't read the manga, a lot of the details in this story be spoilers. A lot of it, however, is me filling in the blanks in time. If you want to know what is real about the actual story and what isn't, check out the Bleach Wikia or read up on the rest of the story.

 **Disclaimer:**

I don't own Bleach or any of the ideas present inside the manga or anime. The use of any materials that were not my own were intended for the purpose of entertainment and nothing more.

 **Note from the Author:**

This story is the third installment of Ria Yamamoto's story. Seer and Herald are posted and available by navigating to my profile page and scrolling down.

 **False Gods**

 **Prelude**

Seeker

Images of a life not yet lived flashed through my mind, playing like a warming up symphony that somehow made sense in my mind. A flute played, high and airy as images of smiling lips and cheery laughs wafted through the air. A violin wailed its heartbreakingly beautiful song as passion rode the air. The cello thrummed its deep harmony as tears cooled on wet cheeks. A drum thrummed, peppering the air with its rapid fire rhythm as swords clashed and metal rang. A trumpet drew a slow melody through the air, a solemn sound that followed death like a banshee's song called to it. Above it all my Herald's beloved koto thrummed, picking it's own path through the cacophony of sound to join some scenes in harmony before flitting away to sync up with another.

Every sound was a possibility. Every string that was plucked a new chance for something unexpected to happen. It all sang to me even if the events would never pass. Anything was possible, and everything could happen. Maybe they wouldn't happen today, maybe not even in a year from now, or ever, but the possibilities were nearly endless.

A loud clash shook my mind's eye and on instinct I pulled myself from the future I had been gazing into. I frowned at the space before me as my world shifted without my influence. My fingers brushed under my nose only to come away with blood coating the tips. There were only a few beings that could have forced me to release the future when I was so deeply engorssed in it. My Herald was soundly sleeping, so it wasn't her. The piece of her Captain that resided here with me was still buried deep within this place, so it wasn't him.

That only left them.

The scene spun, like the earth had turned beneath my feet to set me facing a massive palace like structure. Even with the grandioso appearance, I knew what dark things lurked inside those walls.

"Seeker," a voice wafted to me from the palace.

He was calling me.

Great.

I didn't think that my Herald and I had done enough to attract their eire, but if he was reaching out to me in this format we had certainly caught their attention.

"Arbiter," I answered, knowing he would be more pleased if I used a title rather than his name.

He was egotistical like that.

The landscape around me moved as if it were my feet that were walking even though I didn't take a single step. It was all an illusion unlike what my mind's eye could do, but it felt so real to my eyes and Human senses that if I hadn't known better, even I might have thought it was real. He had the gift of illusions, or as he liked to call it - complete hypnosis. The only problem for him was, it didn't work so well on someone who could see with one of the senses he couldn't fool. My mind's eye was something his power just didn't understand. It wasn't physical, it wasn't one of the primary senses, and it wasn't one of the senses that someone gifted with power were granted. It was my true power, and my Herald's shikai. Something uniquely ours.

"Do you know why I am here?" He asked. The landscape moved quickly, flashing through the grounds of the palace like time was moving at a much faster pace until it abruptly stopped. Autumn leaves lazily fell from the trees that edged the palace's walls to cover the grass in spots of yellow and red. Red and gold spots of colors decorated the flower beds, mingling with the healthy greenery of the plants they bloomed from. The palace itself appeared to be made of wood, but I knew it was reinforced with power. I had constructed this place many years ago. I knew it's every crack and crevasse, but that knowledge only served to make me even more weary of this place.

Being in this place wasn't a good thing. Not for a zanpakuto's spirit who had an active Soul Reaper.

"I take it your Soul Reaper has broken another one of his restraints," I stated softly. I actually moved then, stepping across my inner world to the illusion of a man that stood etched in the rich colors of the autumn scene around him. He was a rather black and white individual himself, but like he had taken on the colors of the world around him, he seemed to gain pigment and his flesh became less gaunt but fuller. It was another illusion, I was sure. I had never actually seen his true face. Even I, whom he had difficulty fooling, couldn't completely break his hypnosis.

"He has broken many, and the more that break, the easier they fall away," he said softly.

"Will we be dealing with him soon?" I asked as I turned away from him to gaze up at the palace that loomed like an oppressing backdrop to the beauty around us. If someone didn't know what resided inside they would have thought it merely a piece of artwork. My Herald would have thought so anyway. She was a child like that.

"No. That is not why I am reaching out to you," I listened to him move until I saw him come up beside me to also turn his gaze on the palace. "I'm here to warn you."

I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, having to turn my head slightly to look around the edge of my mask. "Warn me of what?"

"You're the one who can see the future. Tell me what you have seen."

"I tell no one of what I have seen," I answered smoothly.

"Oh, but you do," he quickly corrected me. "You've told your other half, yet you've also told her the rules."

Ah, there it was.

The warning.

"We do not control our Soul Reaper halves. If she breaks the rules, who am I to stop her? You know this better than anyone else, Arbiter. Your other half tried to dominate the world."

"And look what has befallen me and mine- we are both in our own chains. The only difference between you and yours, and me and mine is that my Soul Reaper is strong enough to face the gods. Is yours?"

I didn't answer him. My Herald was strong, but she wasn't capable of facing down such power and she wouldn't be for several years- if not several decades.

"Why are you sharing this with me?" I asked after a moment's thought.

"I am the Arbiter, but that doesn't mean that I have to be the one to settle conflicts. I can also stop them before they happen."

Metal slid on metal, a sound that I wouldn't have heard if he didn't want me to. It allowed me the fraction of a moment that I needed to call my armor into existence before his sword clashed against my armored back. I would have stumbled forward with the force if I hadn't submerged myself in my mind's eye and caught myself. I blocked his next strike with a pillar of reishi and struck in the same action as the pillar redirected and shot at him, aiming to put distance between us.

With my eyes I saw the tree to my left break and fall, but I knew it was just an illusion. I slipped fully into my own power, allowing myself to see only with the world around me. This was my inner world. Here, no matter the power of the opposing zanpakuto's spirit, my power was absolute.

Bodies rose from the ground, rising like ghosts from the earth. Their armor gleamed gold and black like my own while the bodies that filled them were as solid, but clear like glass. Each bore the weapons of a small army ranging from swords and spears to cross bows and axes and as one they went for him like hounds seeking blood.

"You mean to distract me," the Arbiter stated flatly.

"You cannot fool these soldiers with your mind games," I said as I lifted my own body with my mind's eye and ghosted back from him. I needed distance if we really were to do battle.

"I don't need to fool them, I only need to fool you."

My power flared on its own and instinct kicked in as I blocked a strike from behind with my reactive warding. He'd flash stepped so quickly that I hadn't seen it with the bodies of my soldiers to focus on. It made me frown as I turned and deflected several more strikes as he bore down on me. I blocked them all, but he was moving so quickly that it was difficult to return his attacks with some of my own. I was so focused on him that I almost didn't notice the second presence that bubbled up behind me.

Almost, meaning that I most certainly noticed.

A solid wave of reishi burst from me with an explosion of power. Both of them were caught in it and tossed back, giving me the space I needed. The hypnosis that clouded my mind wavered and broke as I reshaped my inner world. It had once been blank, a looming essence of potential energy that had been waiting for the strike of midnight. It wasn't midnight yet, but that didn't matter. I could do what I pleased with this world.

Sunlight exploded across the world, bathing green grass in a healthy glow and casting shadows behind large evergreen trees that dotted the landscape. A beaten path broke the line of green with it's earthy brown roughness, but the scar on the earth was softened by elegant sprawls larkspur, chrysanthemums and cosmos. It was a spring field of glowing warmth, a scene perfect for what my Heralds name would most likely be.

Even if it was winter in the Soul Society, it didn't mean that I had to suffer the cold as well.

"You broke my hypnosis," the Arbiter murmured with surprise.

Hmm, that wasn't good. I had never actually shown him that his illusions didn't work so well on me. That was supposed to be my well kept secret, a trump card to use when I needed it most.

"You are in my world," I answered him. "I have control here, not you."

Even though the illusions his hypnosis caused had vanished, he still stood there in a cloak of his own power that disguised his true appearance. Beside him a figure crouched. Their body was lean and muscled, but like they had thin bones their body seemed almost frail. I had never seen this person before, but it wasn't a surprise. Just like I had done for years, others served in the shadows of the gods.

"You are drawing their attention again, Seeker. There is a reason that you were given rules. Do not break your oath, and do not let your other half break it for you." He turned, giving me his back as he walked away. The being beside him followed, though their head stayed turned to keep a glowing yellow eye on me as they walked away in a crouch. The Arbiter's voice held the same volume even when his body vanished. "Consider this your one warning, Tankyu no Unmei. If you see me again, I will be coming to end you."

* * *

 **Note from the author** : Thank you for reading the prelude to False Gods! Pleade note, this story will not be updated again until I am finished with Negative Space and have had a few weeks to work on the chapters for this story. It might be a hot minute, but I wanted to get this posted to satisfy my own need for the appearance of progress.


End file.
